William Cobb (Prime Earth)
His next attempt on Batman's life is a giant explosion destroying his own recently discovered headquarters. Batman investigates the sewer when Alan Wayne's body was found, and Talon surprises then abducts him. The Court holds Batman in a massive labyrinth for over a week with no food where he goes slowly mad, until Talon finally approaches from behind and stabs him. They sentence Batman to death, and he delivers a brutal beating to the broken man. Finally the super-hero fights back with his last reserves of strength, and savagely takes the Talon down while his masters flee. Following Batman's escape, the Court of Owls decide to dispose of Talon. Despite his ability to physically recover, he will never mentally recover from the defeat. It is revealed that they have an army of similar warriors. Alfred and Nightwing later discover Talon's body adrift in the Gotham river and bring it back to the Batcave for further examination. Batman strips away the assassin's costume to reveal the body of William Cobb, great-grandfather of Dick Grayson! It seems that William was never truly dead, but rather kept in an odd form of stasis, neither living nor dead, and only awoken when the Court had need of his skills. While the Batcave was under attack by the other Talons, Cobb remained in his half dead/half alive state on the examination table. However, he somehow broke free, possibly from assistance from some of the other Talons but this is unproven, and attacked Dick Grayson, his great-grandson, at the mayor's office. Cobb says that Grayson betrayed him by becoming a vigilante instead of a Talon like Grayson was supposed to be. Cobb, disappointed, throws four knives into his descendent, and waits over him, preparing to kill Nightwing. Nightwing manages to get away and proceeds to lead William on a chase through Gotham, and finally down into a subway station. The entire way, William expresses his disgust and disappointment with Dick for turning his back on his birthright to be a Talon, saying that Dick could have been the greatest of them all. Dick finally says he couldn't care less what his great-grandfather wanted for him and reveals he has led the undead assassin into a trap! He uses his escrema sticks to rupture a cooling pipe overhead, covering William in liquid Nitrogen and sending him back into hibernation. Dick picks up his ancestor's body and carries him outside, first stripping away his Talon mask and tossing it to the floor. | Powers = * Increased Healing: Due to the the synthesized electrum in his blood, Cobb can easily survive intense pain. Batman Vol 2 7 He, in his first encounter with Batman, was thrown off of Wayne tower and survived. | Abilities = * Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): The Court of Owls has forged William into a master hand-to-hand combatant. He is able to match Batman blow-for-blow. * Throwing: A trained knife-thrower, William has uncanny aim with his knives, able to hit specific arteries and veins even in the midst of combat. * Weaponry: William, like all Talons, uses an arsenal of bladed weapons on his missions, ranging from his signature throwing knives to full-sized broadswords and axes. | Strength = * Peak Human Strength: The Talon is able to lift Bruce Wayne with ease. Also, due to his revival from the dead, he is able to survive much more than an average human. Batman Vol 2 6 | Weaknesses = * Requires Electrum: When Cobb is defeated, he requires an alloy known as electrum to continue functioning. This alloy is supplied by the Court of Owls, but, if the Talon is defeated, they have the choice to cut off his supply. | Equipment = * Paraglider wings: The Talon, although never used, possesses deployable wings that allow him to glide. This is proven when the other Talons, who wield the same armor as Cobb, jump from the top of a building and glide away. | Transportation = | Weapons = * Throwing Knives * Sword * Many Forms of Blades and Knives : In Cobb's hideout, Batman discovered a weapons cache filled with many blades of different shapes and sizes. However, the tripwire that Batman set off exploded the hideout along with the blades. | Notes = | Trivia = * William Cobb is Dick Grayson's great-grandfather. This means that Grayson's great-grandfather possibly killed Wayne's great-grandfather but this is currently unproven. * Cobb was born October 10, 1901, as stated in Nightwing Issue 8. Nightwing Vol 3 8 | Recommended = * Batman: The Court of Owls | Wikipedia = | Links = }} Category:Assassins Category:Accelerated Healing Category:Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced) Category:Throwing Category:Weaponry